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A62
sports
Guardian www.guardian.co.tt Wednesday, October 15, 2014
ANDREW GIOANNETTI
T&T s senior women s team will
begin its march on the final stretch
toward the Fifa Women s World Cup
qualification quest today, against the
world s highest-ranked team USA, as
both teams line up on the opening
day of the Concacaf Women s Cham-
pionship, at Sporting Park, Kansas
City, Kansas, USA.
The match will kick off at 7.30 pm
locally (8.30 pm TT time), following
the tournament and Group A opener
between Guatemala and Haiti (6 pm
TT time).
Making an already massive test that
bit more difficult, the "Soca Princesses"
will line-up at a venue expected to be
dominated by 18,000-plus American
spectators. But, despite the odds being
stacked heavily against them, head
coach Randy Waldrum s players will
be encouraged to hold their lines and
grit out at least a point from a draw,
which, if gained, would spur the team
further when it goes up against Haiti
on Friday and finally Guatemala on
Monday in the last group match.
And while the quality of Concacaf
football is considered to be miles above
that of the Caribbean Football Union
(CFU) stage, the T&T players would
be reminded of their very qualities
which helped them clinch the inaugural
CFU Women s Caribbean Cup in
emphatic style last August after con-
ceding no goals and scoring a total of
21, including a 1-0 win over Jamaica
in the final.
Expected to make the starting line-
up today are the CFU s top goalkeeper
Kimika Forbes, one of the same tour-
nament s highest rated defenders Arin
King, top scorer Tasha St Louis, MVP
Mariah Shade, speedy attacker, Kennya
"Yaya" Cordner, and midfield captain
Maylee Attin-Johnson.
Also, one of T&T s most experienced,
active and highest-rated players Ahkeela
Mollon has returned and is expected
to be a key component of Waldrum s
attack throughout the tournament after
missing out of the CFU qualifiers while
on club duties in Sweden.
On the other end, household names
in goalkeeper Hope Solo and forward
Abby Wambach, the latter of whom
boasts an incredible tally of 170 goals
in 224 internationals, are likely to start
for a full-strength USA, as with veteran
defender and captain Christie Rampone,
who will be just two caps shy of 300
after today.
T&T and USA have met a handful
of times in the past and history was
not kind to the "Soca Princesses."
The US has won seven times in full
internationals, three of which were in
World Cup qualifying matches. Most
recently, in 2004, the US secured a 7-
0 win over T&T in Olympic qualifying.
Incidentally, the US also faced Haiti
two days later and won 8-0.
After today s match, Waldrum strate-
gic approach against T&T s other two
Group A opponents will undoubtedly
be altered to achieve maximum points
from the two "winnable" matches.
Waldrum, quoted in an article on
Concacaf s Web site said: "We can t
go out with this great attacking men-
tality for 90 minutes and get our team
opened up too much against a team
with the quality of the US. So, we re
going to have to be more of a defensive
team against the US but that will be
different with the approach we will
take with Haiti and Guatemala."
At the semifinals, the winning teams
from the two semifinal matches will
qualify directly to the 2015 Fifa Women s
World Cup as will the winner of the
subsequent third-place playoff. The
loser of the third-place playoff (fourth
placed finisher), will enter a home-
and-away play-off against Ecuador
(South America) to determine the last
team from the two confederations to
qualify for the World Cup.
The Group B teams are Jamaica,
Mexico, Costa Rica and Martinique.
Martinique cannot qualify for the World
Cup, as it is not recognized as a Fifa
country. Therefore, if it finishes within
the top two teams in Group B, the third-
placed team will advance to the semi-
finals.
VINODE MAMCHAN
Indian captain Mahen-
dra Singh Dhoni says that
this current West Indies
one day side is a fantastic
one and is difficult to
defeat.
Dhoni speaking to the
T&T Guardian after his
side levelled the four-
match series at the Feroz
Shah Kotla said: "Person-
ally I think they are a fan-
tastic side, the reason being
is that they have all the
ingredients packed in there.
They have some fantastic
big hitters in their line-up
and mixed in with that,
they have men who can
take control of the middle
and play their natural game
and bat out the overs.
"May be they are look-
ing for an opener because
on one day you had
(Dwayne) Bravo opening
the batting and on the
other day you had the
other Bravo, his brother
opening. I know that they
have some injured openers
at the moment but
Dwayne Smith is batting
well and this is a good
thing for them. Marlon
Samuels is also capable of
taking control of the
innings and batting early
straight through to the end,
so this is something that
is also a plus."
Dhoni added that the
bowling attack is also a
dangerous one: "They have
a dangerous bowling
attack, with good bowlers
not bits and pieces bowlers.
They have good fast
bowlers and even their all-
rounders are proper seam
bowlers like Dwayne Bravo,
Darren Sammy and Andre
Russell. They also have a
good spinner in Sulieman
Benn and this gives them
a good allround attack."
The Indian leader also
had some words of advice
for the West Indies Cricket
Board (WICB): "This team
needs to be kept together
and I see no reason when
they should not be suc-
cessful on a consistent
basis."
The West Indies one day
team will again come
together after this series in
January, when they play
against South Africa in five
matches in South Africa
before moving on to Aus-
tralia for the World Cup.
Minister of Sport Rupert Griffith
has agreed to meet with officials of
the T&T Football Association (TTFA)
to discuss the future development of
the game locally.
According to a media release sent
out by the TTFA yesterday, Griffith has
been in communication with TTFA
president Raymond Tim Kee and will
hold formal discussions this week
charting the way forward and outlining
the ministry s support for football going
forward.
The release stated: "Tim Kee has
indicated that the minister has
expressed a great deal of enthusiasm
in supporting all competing national
teams and has monitored the progress
of the senior men s national team, the
Under-20 and Under-17 men s team
and the senior women s team, all of
which are currently engaged in com-
petition.
"The Ministry of Sport and the
Sportt Company continue to be our
biggest supporters and by all indication,
their contributions to the success of
these teams will continue going forward.
Our discussions will be centred around
this and means of having systems in
place to ensure there is timely and rel-
evant support for our national teams,"
Tim Kee said.
According to Tim Kee, financial sup-
port from the Ministry of Sport has
played a significant part in the successes
of several national football teams since
2012 including the men s senior team,
which finished second at the 2012
Caribbean Cup Finals, reached the
quarterfinal of the Concacaf Gold Cup
in 2013, finished third at the 2013 OSN
Cup in Saudi Arabia, defeated Jamaica
twice in 2013, played high-profile
friendlies and topped the Caribbean
Cup semifinal group in October 2014.
The women s team also finished win-
ners of the Caribbean Championship
in 2014 while the Under-17 men s team
topped its CFU first round group and
are into the final round of Caribbean
qualifiers for the Fifa Under-17 World
Cup and the Under-20 men s team
were also crowned Caribbean Cham-
pions in September, 2014.
The Women s Under-17 Team also
captured the Caribbean Championship
title last September, while the national
Under-15 women s team finished a
commendable third at the 2014 Con-
cacaf Championships in the Cayman
Islands.
The Women s Under-20 team also
came to within one win of qualifying
for the 2014 Fifa Under-20 Women s
World Cup after reaching the third
place playoff in January, 2014. These,
with the aid of the Ministry of Sport.
Dhoni: WI a
strong side
Concacaf showdown
...T&T faces world's No 1 USA in opener today
T&T head coach Randy Waldrum, left, gives instructions to Shenelle Henry, centre, and Taylor Mims during the final of
the CFU Women's Caribbean Cup in August. T&T won the match 1-0. Today, T&T's women's team will meet the world's
number-one ranked women's team, USA, in both team's opening match of the Concacaf Women's Championship in
Kansas City. PHOTO: ANTHONY HARRIS
TTFA, Ministry of Sport plan to chart football forward
TODAY
Guatemala vs Haiti, Sporting Park,
Kansas, 6 pm
United States vs T&T, Sporting Park,
8.30 pm
FRIDAY
Haiti vs T&T, Toyota Park,
Bridgeview, 6.30 pm
United States vs Guatemala, Toyot a
Park, 8 pm
MONDAY
T&T vs Guatemala, RFK Stadium,
Washington, 6 pm
Haiti vs United Stated, RFK
Stadium, 8.30 pm
GROUP A FIXTURES